Third Wave evangelism and the politics of the global in Papua New Guinea: spiritual warfare and the recreation of place in Telefolmin.

Third Wave evangelism and the politics of the global in Papua New Guinea: spiritual warfare and the recreation of place in Telefolmin. INTRODUCTION (1) Around Christmas of 1992 I paid a return visit to my field site inTelefolmin, Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea(păp`ə, –y . While there I had an intriguingconversation with Wesani Iwoksim, a Telefol friend who was the formerMember in the national parliament and a pastor in the local Baptistchurch. After a somewhat puzzling discussion of the Gulf War and GeorgeBush Sr.'s talk of a new world order, he began to tell me ofvarious prophecies that had come to his attention. These were avowedlyapocalyptic and had a lot to do with the Last Days and Triple-Six(666)--the Mark of the Beast. What particularly caught my eye was hisdescription of how bank cards (or credit cards) and UPCs (universalproduct codes--the computer-readable bar codes on the labels of variousgoods) were precursors of marks that would be tattooed on the arms orforeheads of people who would then go into stores and secure goods bydisplaying these tattoos. These marks were associated with Satan, thoughit wasn't clear from his account just how this worked: sometimes hetalked as though they indicated that one belonged to Satan, but at othertimes he suggested that those who bore these tattoos would be recognizedby Jesus when he came back to earth, and be allowed to board an aircraftthat would take them to heaven. Although his was a minority view--not many people seemed to sharehis ideas--it was the kind of thing guaranteed to make localChristianity interesting to an anthropologist. Fresh from teachingseminars on Bourdieu (1977), Taussig (1980) and Appadurai'scollection on the social life of things (1986), I began to mentallysketch the outlines of an argument about a local critique ofcommodification Commodification (or commoditization) is the transformation of what is normally a non-commodity into a commodity, or, in other words, to assign value. As the word commodity has distinct meanings in business and in Marxist theory, commodification . In all of this I was impressed with the creativity ofthe Telefol mythic imagination. What halted me in my tracks was the fact that I also had the goodfortune to meet with Joel Robbins, who was conducting fieldwork amongthe nearby Urapmin at the time. When I told him of Wesani'sapocalyptic tale, he gently suggested that I might be surprised if Iread certain passages from the Bible or had a look at the evangelistictracts regularly available in the nearby mining town of Tabubil (seeRobbins 1997, 1998, 2004a: 157-159). Looking back on this incident now, what strikes me most is this: myinitial reaction was grounded in assumptions about a distinctive kind ofcultural creativity at work in an out of the way place. I had takenWesani's tale to be an indication of how Christianity had beenreshaped to fit local cultural preoccupations: an instance of a uniqueindigenous perspective from the margins of the world system. What I hadnot understood was that his story was instead--as indeed he himself sawit--strong evidence of how well connected he was with the world beyondhis mountain valley, and it took some time for me to appreciate howaccurately his tale reflected a Christian millennial discourse that wascirculating globally. I tell this story to illustrate how easily our anthropologicalhabit of privileging the local over the global comes into play, even (orespecially) if the aim of the exercise is to understand how the globalhas a local presence. This is tricky terrain, both because of intrinsicdifficulties, and because of analytic strategies that have become secondnature for many of us (see Douglas 2001). This is especially true ofefforts to look ethnographically at Christianity in 'remote'locations, which carry the burden of having to show us something new,something different from what we take for granted. One consequence, itseems to me, is that we may be tempted to discount the significance ofbeliefs or practices that resonate with those closer to home (see Barker1990a), and in so doing, underestimate the importance of thespecifically global dimensions of contemporary Christian evangelism.This is, as others have already argued (Casanova 2001, Corten andMarshall-Fratani, eds. 2001, Gifford 2004, Robbins 2004b, Stoll 1990),particularly relevant when considering pentecostal-charismatic(henceforth pentecostalist) (2) forms of Christianity precisely becausetheir phenomenal spread is one of the most striking instances ofcultural globalization globalizationProcess by which the experience of everyday life, marked by the diffusion of commodities and ideas, is becoming standardized around the world. Factors that have contributed to globalization include increasingly sophisticated communications and transportation . In what follows I shall be examining a particular pentecostalistmovement among the Telefolmin of Papua New Guinea's West Sepik (orSandaun) Province. In good ethnographic fashion, I shall situate sit��u��ate?tr.v. sit��u��at��ed, sit��u��at��ing, sit��u��ates1. To place in a certain spot or position; locate.2. To place under particular circumstances or in a given condition.adj. themovement in the context of local culture and history. But for thepurposes of this paper I will be even more concerned to attend to themovement's extra-local dimensions, and shall do so from severalangles in order to argue that it can best be understood as a jointproduct of locals and outsiders engaged in overlapping projects ofimaginative world-making (see Robbins 2004b:130-131). These projects ofworld-making take place alongside parallel projects of place-making inwhich the local is redefined in terms of global images, processes, andnetworks of relations. The paper begins with a general account of what I call 'ThirdWave evangelism' and its relation to what has been termed'spiritual warfare.' I then turn to a consideration of ThirdWave evangelism in recent PNG (Portable Network Graphics) A bitmapped graphics file format endorsed by the World Wide Web Consortium. It is expected to eventually replace the GIF format, because there are lingering legal problems with GIFs. history as a prelude to an analysis ofOperation Joshua Operation Joshua was the 1985 removal of 800 Ethiopian Jews (called Beta Israel) from Sudan to Israel.George H. W. Bush, Vice-President of the United States at the time, arranged a CIA-sponsored follow-up mission to Operation Moses, which had brought 8000 people to Israel. , a pentecostalist movement that took root in Telefolminsince the start of the decade. With this as context I look at OperationJoshua in local and regional terms, after which I will venture someconclusions on how the conjuncture con��junc��ture?n.1. A combination, as of events or circumstances: "the power that lies in the conjuncture of faith and fatherland"Conor Cruise O'Brien.2. of the Third Wave's globalizingproject with local projects gives rise to new imaginary geographies. THIRD WAVE EVANGELISM AND SPIRITUAL WARFARE For the NES game, see Spiritual WarfareThere are various opinions and definitions for Spiritual Warfare, however it can be summed up in the following quote: "Some speak of [Spiritual Warfare as being] the struggle between good and evil. IN GLOBAL CONTEXT The last two decades have witnessed a burgeoning of pentecostalistchurches across vast regions of the globe (Droogers 2001, Robbins2004b). Scholarly attention came early to the growth of pentecostalistcongregations in Latin America Latin America,the Spanish-speaking, Portuguese-speaking, and French-speaking countries (except Canada) of North America, South America, Central America, and the West Indies. , where they were quickly perceived as achallenge to the dominance of the Catholic church (e.g., Stoll 1990),but it soon became clear that the pentecostalist boom extended to theCaribbean (Austin-Broos 1997), Africa (Gifford 2004, Meyer 2004), andparts of Asia (DeBernardi 1999; Wagner 1996:613). Nor has this growthbeen confined to the postcolonial world: pentecostalist churches havebeen growing in North America North America,third largest continent (1990 est. pop. 365,000,000), c.9,400,000 sq mi (24,346,000 sq km), the northern of the two continents of the Western Hemisphere. and Europe as well (Coleman 2000). Within the diverse range of doctrines and practices that constitutecontemporary pentecostalism there has been a striking development of afamily of neo-charismatic movements that may be collectively termedThird Wave evangelism (cf. Corten and Marshall-Fratani 2001:4-6). Comingto prominence near the end of the 1980s, Third Wave approaches draw on aseries of theological and practical innovations prominently associatedwith evangelists such as C. Peter Wagner, John Wagner, (John Peter) ��Honus��(1874–1955) baseball player; born in Carnegie, Pa. During his 21-year career as an infielder (1897–1917), mostly with the Pittsburgh Pirates, he was widely considered the greatest all-around player to have ever played the Wimber, Benny Hinn Tofik Benedictus "Benny" Hinn (born December 3, 1952) is a televangelist, best known for his regular "Miracle Crusades" – revival meeting/faith healing summits that are usually held in large stadiums in major cities. ,George Otis, and John Dawson John Dawson is a name shared by several notable men, including: John Dawson (1744-1798), first Earl of Portarlington John Dawson (1781-1845), second Earl of Portarlington John Dawson (US Politician) (1762-1814) ) Wagner coined the term 'ThirdWave' as a shorthand designation for a Spirit-based movement thatsucceeded earlier pentecostalist forms (Wagner 1988:15). Much of the Third Wave's doctrinal impetus grew out ofWagner's sojourn as Professor of Church Growth at the FullerTheological Seminary Through its three schools, Theology, Psychology, Intercultural Studies, and the Horner Center for Lifelong Learning, the seminary offers university-style education leading to 13 different degrees accredited by the Association of Theological Schools[1] and the Western , where he was much impressed by the growth of LatinAmerican Pentecostalism which was accompanied by what has come to betermed 'signs and wonders' (Wagner 1988; Stoll 1990:76-77; seeMarsden 1987). Thus the Third Wave is understood as a movement of theHoly Spirit in which supernatural interventions--or rather, theintervention of the spiritual in the material (Wagner 1988:15-36)--playan important role, both as authentication and as a source of benefitsfor believers. Such demonstrations are crucial in the 'powerevangelism' that is credited with producing dramatic church growth(e.g., Wimber and Springer 1986; see Wagner 1996:32-3). The range ofsuch interventions includes trances and speaking in tongues as well asvisions--traditional gifts of the Spirit. To this are added healing,prophecy (sometimes with the help of 'two-way prayer'), anddiscernment (e.g., an ability to identify spirits). These are part ofwhat has become known as the Faith Gospel, which encourages believers toexpect miracles and wonders as signs of the Spirit's work (seeGifford 2001:62-65). Taken in their epistemological implications, thetenets of the Faith Gospel depart from mainline doctrine in theiremphasis on what is termed a 'pragmatic theology' where theevidence of experience (signs and wonders) is granted doctrinal validityeven when explicit scriptural support is lacking (see Wagner 1996:39ff).It is a view that finds its justification in its empiricaleffects:</p> <pre> I am proud to be among those who are advocating power evangelismas an important tool for the fulfilling of the great commission inour day. One of the reasons that I am so enthusiastic is that it isworking. Across the board, the most effective evangelism in today'sworld is accompanied by manifestations of supernatural power (Wagner 1988:87). </pre> <p>Elaborations on thesethemes appear in the Prosperity Gospel, where material prosperity isseen not merely as proof of the Spirit's activity, but asentitlements that believers may claim, and yet another form is theDeliverance Gospel, in which believers are delivered from the power ofsatanic forces that may have compromised or 'blocked' theirwell-being (Coleman 2000, Corten and Marshall-Fratani eds. 2001, Gifford2004, Meyer 2000). TERRITORIAL SPIRITS, SPIRITUAL MAPPING, AND SPIRITUAL WARFARE A key doctrine of Third Wave theology is that Christians have achoice between passive and active responses to the challenge ofSatan's power in the world, and that the most promising strategy isto engage the enemy by aggressive confrontation through prayer, known aspower encounters (see Tippett 1967:100-111; Kraft 2005). This approachis termed spiritual warfare and consists of a range of articulatestrategies, tactics and principles couched in terms of a pervasivemilitary rhetoric (see Brouwer et al. 1996, DeBernardi 1999 andStritecky 2001). The chief architects of this doctrine are C. PeterWagner (founder of Harvest Ministries and the World Prayer Center),George Otis (The Sentinel Group), and Cindy Jacobs (YWAM YWAM Youth With A MissionYWAM Your Wings Are Mine (Manga by Aoi Hayashi)), but itsprinciples are widely disseminated throughout global networks ofpentecostalist evangelism (e.g., through Wagner's InternationalSpiritual Warfare Network and the United Prayer Track; see Wagner 2000,1996:14-21). Wagner (1992a:16-19; 1996:20-22) distinguishes betweenthree levels of spiritual warfare: * 'Ground-Level Spiritual Warfare' against demons whopossess individuals (exorcisms); * 'Occult-Level Spiritual Warfare,' conducted largelyagainst witches, shamans, magicians and New Age cults (beating a morethan passing resemblance to witch-finding); * 'Strategic-Level Spiritual Warfare' conducted againstterritorial spirits that are said to rule over given regions orterritories at Satan's behest. Of these, strategic-level spiritual warfare--SLSW in Third Wavejargon--is considered the most ambitious undertaking and is envisagedalong the lines of a global campaign operating in regional theatres ofconflict. The key targets are the strongholds of territorial spirits,often identified with the shrines of various traditional religions.According to according toprep.1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians.2. In keeping with: according to instructions.3. this doctrine, such spirits are real and powerful, and theyhold sway over territories delegated to them by Satan, whose forces areorganized into regional hierarchies spanning the globe (Otis 1998). As in military campaigns, a great deal of preparation is requiredfor successful operations, a sense reflected in the language used todescribe SLSW SLSW St. Louis Southwestern (Railroad)SLSW Salt Lake Symphonic Winds (Salt Lake City, UT)SLSW Shore Legal Services Workers (New Jersey)as well as in the repertoire of actions undertaken. So,for example, specific campaigns are designated as Operations, a usagewhose popularity would seem to owe much to the US military'spenchant for designating its own campaigns in similar terms (forexample, Operation Joshua, as discussed here, or Operation Ice Castle,Operation Queen's Palace, Operation Mobilisation Operation Mobilisation is an Evangelical Christian organization founded by George Verwer to mobilise young people to live and share the Gospel of Jesus. OM, as it is known, started in Mexico and had spread to Europe and India by 1963. , and at its mostambitious, Operation World). As one enthusiast remarked on the foundingof Wagner's World Prayer Center,</p> <pre> If theWorld Prayer Center is a spiritual version of the Pentagon, thenWagner is the church's Norman Schwartzkopf ... And now that hiscommand center is built he is ready to launch his own version ofOperation Desert Storm Noun 1. Operation Desert Storm - the United States and its allies defeated Iraq in a ground war that lasted 100 hours (1991)Gulf War, Persian Gulf War - a war fought between Iraq and a coalition led by the United States that freed Kuwait from Iraqi invaders; ... He believes ... there must be an "AirForce" that provides protection as well as strategic informationabout spiritual enemies. (Grady 1999:72, cited in Steinkamp 2002)</pre> <p>Wagner speaks in terms of 'prayerwarriors' and has described fellow SLSW proponents as'spiritual green berets' (1992a:58). The necessaryintelligence operations The variety of intelligence and counterintelligence tasks that are carried out by various intelligence organizations and activities within the intelligence process. Intelligence operations include planning and direction, collection, processing and exploitation, analysis and production, are undertaken by teams whose work is essentialto the task of spiritual mapping, a term coined by George Otis Jr.(1991:85):</p> <pre> [spiritual mapping] involvessuperimposing our understanding of forces and events in the spiritualdomain onto places and circumstances in the material world. Theresult is often a set of borders, capitals and battlefronts thatdiffer notably from those we have come to associate with thepolitical status quo [Latin, The existing state of things at any given date.] Status quo ante bellum means the state of things before the war. The status quo to be preserved by a preliminary injunction is the last actual, peaceable, uncontested status which preceded the pending controversy. . </pre> <p>The aim is to pinpoint andneutralize 'satanic command and control centers: evilprincipalities that are responsible for deploying satanic legionsthroughout the world (p. 93).' (4) Successful spiritual mappingpermits '"smart bomb" praying' to loosen thespirits' hold (Moreau 2005). Examples of spiritual mapping teams are the Battle Axe “Battleaxe” redirects here. For other uses, see Battleaxe (disambiguation).A battle axe (also battle-axe or battle-ax) is an axe specifically designed as a weapon. Battle axes were specialized versions of utility axes. Brigade orTeam Orange, who describe their activities as Night Vision Goggles thatenable them to locate the enemy and develop appropriate tactics.Although the gift of discernment can sometimes provide inspirationalinsight into the names of unidentified spirits, much of the workconsists of research into historical (and anthropological) sources aswell as field reconnaissances of the target area (Otis 1991:84-102;Wagner 1992a:99-100; Steinkamp 2002, Joshua Project 2005). Spiritual mapping and the campaigns that it organizes areundertaken at several scales, ranging from particular sites to vastregions of the globe (see Otis 1991:96f; Wagner 1996:28-31). The mostwidely known example of the latter is the 10/40 Window, defined as'the rectangular area of North Africa, the Middle East and Asiabetween 10 degrees north and 40 degrees north latitude where 95 percentof the world's least-evangelized poor are found (Joshua Project2005).' In 1993 this zone became the focus of the Praying Throughthe Window project in which 'up to 40 million intercessors weremobilized to pray for the same thing on the same day through October onfour different occasions' (Wagner 2000). In addition to prayerundertaken in believers' home congregations, it also mountedexpeditions for on-site prayer in the '100 least evangelized citiesof the world' and "twinned", that is, linked [these] toat least one U.S. city and other cities around the world' (Dennison1994:194). (5) Operating through a combination of overlapping organizations andloose evangelistic networks, SLSW defines itself in terms of a globalvision that Weber would be tempted to call enchanted en��chant?tr.v. en��chant��ed, en��chant��ing, en��chants1. To cast a spell over; bewitch.2. To attract and delight; entrance. See Synonyms at charm. : it is a geographypopulated by spirits anchored to specific locations in space. (6)SLSW's preoccupation with space and place must be counted as one ofits defining features. (7) Couched in idioms of combat against unseenbut real enemies, it prides itself on the global length of its reach andzeroes in on local enemy strongpoints. While seeking to help bring aboutGod's kingdom on earth, it serves as a perfect instance of theattempt to make the globalization of pentecostalist Christianity areality. THE THIRD WAVE IN PAPUA NEW GUINEA Pentecostalist Christianity was a relative late-comer in Papua NewGuinea. Hovey (1990) lists twenty-four pentecostal denominations (withover 1800 congregations) in PNG at the close of the 1980s, and suggeststhat such churches were established in two distinct waves. (8) The firstwave took place after the end of the Second World War in whichpredominantly rural churches were founded around mission stationsoffering educational and medical services in addition to evangelism. Asecond wave began in the 1970s in predominantly urban settings, whichwere used as bases for expansion into rural areas. This second wavediffered from the first in a number of features: it drew its leadershipfrom urban people who were for the most part already educated, andschooling and training (and community development in general) took acorrespondingly less prominent place in church activities. Perhaps moreimportantly, second-wave denominations did not enter into comity Courtesy; respect; a disposition to perform some official act out of goodwill and tradition rather than obligation or law. The acceptance or Adoption of decisions or laws by a court of another jurisdiction, either foreign or domestic, based on public policy rather than legal agreements with other churches and therefore tended to expand at theexpense of established congregations, including charismaticdenominations. In their emphasis on church growth, second-wavepentecostalist groups tended to consciously stress Melanesian Pidgin pidgin(pĭj`ən), a lingua franca that is not the mother tongue of anyone using it and that has a simplified grammar and a restricted, often polyglot vocabulary. asthe language of evangelization e��van��gel��ize?v. e��van��gel��ized, e��van��gel��iz��ing, e��van��gel��iz��esv.tr.1. To preach the gospel to.2. To convert to Christianity.v.intr.To preach the gospel. rather than local vernaculars, with theresult that they tended to spread widely beyond the confines of specificethnic groupings. This spread was encouraged by an emphasis on foundingone's own church, especially among mobile people (including membersof the urban elite) and migrants returning to rural areas after livingin town. By the close of the '80s the evangelistic message wasbeing spread informally and through crusades, street preaching, drama,music rallies and films, and Hovey reports an annual growth rateapproaching 20% in some areas (pp. 64-67). What Hovey's account makes clear is that by 1990pentecostalist growth in PNG was surging, the same time that the ThirdWave was building force around the globe. Tracing out the emergence ofThird Wave evangelism in PNG is a difficult task, however, given theextremely decentralized form of PNG pentecostalist organizations and thepaucity of published sources. My approach here will rely largely ontracking a few highly publicized instances in the hopes of laying thegroundwork for more detailed accounts to come. The single best-documented instance of Third Wave spiritual warfarein PNG was the nationally-organized Operation Brukim Skru (Kneel Down[to pray]) campaign that coincided with the parliamentary elections of1997 (see Kocher Schmid 1999, Gibbs 2005). Inaugurated by PNG'sGovernor-General, the aim of Operation Brukim Skru was to field teams ofintercessors to pray at polling places for the Holy Spirit'sintervention in warding off evil influences, such as corruption, inpolitical life. Bill Skate Sir William Jack Skate KCMG (September 26, 1953 – January 3, 2006) was a Papua New Guinea politician and statesman. He was the son of an Australian father and a native PNG mother. , a professed born-again Christian Noun 1. born-again Christian - a Christian who has experienced a dramatic conversion to faith in JesusChristian - a religious person who believes Jesus is the Christ and who is a member of a Christian denomination , became Prime Ministerfollowing the 1997 elections, and in 1999 he invited the televangelist tel��e��van��gel��ist?n.An evangelist who conducts religious telecasts.[Blend of television and evangelist.]tel Benny Hinn to conduct a pentecostalist crusade in Port Moresby Port Moresby(môrz`bē), town (1990 pop. 193,242), capital of Papua New Guinea, on New Guinea island and on the Gulf of Papua. Rubber, gold, and copra are exported. Port Moresby was founded by Capt. John Moresby, who landed there in 1873. , thecapital. Playing to a full stadium with an audience said (improbably) tohave numbered 100,000, Skate took the podium with Hinn and declared that'the Prime Minister of this country is none other than Jesus Christ Jesus Christ:see Jesus. Jesus Christ40 days after Resurrection, ascended into heaven. [N.T.: Acts 1:1–11]See : AscensionJesus Christkind to the poor, forgiving to the sinful. [N.T. [and] I am his ambassador' (Gibbs 2005:7; see Joel News 1999). Hinn's crusade roughly coincided with one of the moreintriguing traces of the Third Wave in PNG, Operation Prea Banis (PrayerWall, a concept referring to defensive structures in spiritual warfare[Wagner 1992b]). Operation Prea Banis</p> <pre> sawteams of "intercessors" going to pray in governmentdepartments, including the chamber of parliament. Moreover, theyconvinced the Prime Minister to allow them to use the officialgovernment aircraft, Kumul 1, to fly along the border with IrianJaya Irian Jaya,province, Indonesia: see Papua. , praying that Papua New Guinea might be protected from outsideevil influences. They also circumnavigated the entire country in anavy patrol boat, erecting a "prayer wall" while performing prophetic acts, and praying that God would release power in the heavenly realm to impact on the earthly realm and protect thenation from evil. (Gibbs 2005:18) </pre> <p>Gibbs goes on toadd that 'one of the many [prophetic] acts ... involved holdinghigh a flag printed with the words "Jesus is Lord The saying "Jesus is Lord" serves as a statement of faith for millions of Christians who regard Jesus as both fully man and fully God. It is also the motto adopted by the World Council of Churches and by Kenneth Copeland Ministries. " during theentire flight along the PNG/Irian Jaya border' (2005:18n). A successor to Operation Brukim Skru and Operation Prea Banis wasOperation Joshua. Organized by participants in these two earlierOperations, Operation Joshua shared Operation Prea Banis'sterritorial focus and bore the earmarks of spiritual warfare. Its aimwas to 'claim the land for God' (Gibbs 2005:18), one elementof which was to try to field prayer teams of intercessors to traversethe length and breadth of the country. (9) Tellingly, Gibbs notes that'the flyer advertising the operation shows a soldier holding arifle standing astride a��stride?adv.1. With a leg on each side: riding astride.2. With the legs wide apart.prep.1. On or over and with a leg on each side of.2. a relief map of Papua New Guinea' (p. 18).It was one offshoot of this larger campaign that appeared on theTelefolmin scene in 2002. THE TELEFOLMIN CONTEXT (10) Located in the mountains of West Sepik Province, Telefolmin are oneof a series of related peoples known to ethnographers as the MountainOk. Numbering perhaps 4500, Telefolmin occupy twenty or so villages alltracing their ancestry to the original village of Telefolip, named afterthe Telefolip--a central spirit house to which young men went forinitiations. Since the 1980s the Ok Tedi mine This article is about the Ok Tedi Mine. For the River, see Ok Tedi River. The Ok Tedi Mine is located near the headwaters of the Ok Tedi River, in the Star Mountains Rural LLG of the North Fly District of the Western Province of Papua New Guinea. , just over the boundary ofWestern Province, has been the chief source of income in an otherwiseunpromising and isolated area. (11) Telefolmin have formed one of themain components of the mine workforce ever since, and mining has loomedcorrespondingly large in their fortunes. Sometime around 2000 the Telefolip--nowadays referred to as theSupreme Cultural House by some English-speaking Telefolmin--collapsedafter having stood for decades. (12) Traditionally the focal point focal pointn.See focus. of aregional taro taro:see arum. taroHerbaceous plant (Colocasia esculenta) of the arum family, probably native to Southeast Asia and taken to the Pacific islands. fertility cult, the house stood in recent times as theanchoring point for an emergent sense of ethnic identity for Telefolminand neighbouring Mountain Ok peoples now styling themselves as Min.Although Telefolmin and most of their neighbours had converted to ahome-grown version of charismatic Baptist Christianity with the Rebaibalmovement of the late 1970s (Jorgensen 1981, Lohmann 2000, 2001, Robbins2004a; see also Brutti 1999), the house was instrumental in theformation of a Min Movement that spearheaded abortive abortive/abor��tive/ (ah-bor��tiv)1. incompletely developed.2. abortifacient (1).3. cutting short the course of a disease.a��bor��tiveadj.1. attempts to form anew Min Province straddling the boundary between Western and West SepikProvinces. The aim was to achieve autonomy from distant provincialcapitals and to incorporate the Ok Tedi mine within the newprovince's boundaries (Jorgensen 1996). Though the attempt to forma new province failed, these efforts bore fruit in the form of thecreation of the Telefomin District Development Agreement (TDDA) throughwhich a portion of revenues from the Ok Tedi mine was allocated by thenational government for the people of the Telefomin District. TDDA wasestablished in recognition of the special relationship between them andthe Ok Tedi site, a relationship rooted in regionally attestedmythological traditions of Afek, the founding ancestress An´ces`tressn. 1. A female ancestor.Noun 1. ancestress - a woman ancestorancestor, antecedent, ascendant, ascendent, root - someone from whom you are descended (but usually more remote than a grandparent) of the Minpeoples and builder of the Telefolip. According to these traditions,Afek sent her younger brother Umoim from Telefolip to establish the Landof the Dead beneath Mt. Fubilan, the site of the Ok Tedi mine (Jorgensen1990b). This Land of the Dead was understood to be the source oftraditional forms of wealth and was the place to which Telefol ghostswent after death. (13) After Afek and Umoim died their bones were housed as relics inTelefolip, where they figured in rituals associated with the Taro Vine,a plant whose roots were under the site of the Telefolip and whose vineswere believed to radiate ra��di��atev.1. To spread out in all directions from a center.2. To emit or be emitted as radiation.ra outward into the surrounding countryside tonurture taro gardens 'as a mother gives milk to her children.'Since Rebaibal the cult rituals lapsed, and most Christians seemedcontent to view the house instead as a focus of identity, using variousEnglish words such as culture, custom, history, tradition, and heritageto indicate its significance. Thus stripped of most of its ritualassociations, the house still retained its role as the central referencepoint in a Telefol geography of the world and their origins. Inpolitical terms it stood as visible testimony to ethnic links connectingall the Min peoples and the Ok Tedi mine. (14) Beyond this, from aboutthe 1990s onwards it was also viewed as the point of origin for a rangeof other aspects of the contemporary Telefol world. PNG's one Kinacoin was said to have originated there, and some also believed thatChrist was crucified at the site. (15) Thus reconfigured in an accommodation with evangelicalChristianity, the Telefolip served to affirm rather than challengeeveryday commitments to Christianity as an authentically Telefolreligion. Charismatic Baptists attended frequent services and prayermeetings, and a newly established SDA SDAabbr.specific dynamic actionSerotonin dopamine antagonist (SDA)The newer second-generation antipsychotic drugs, also called atypical antipsychotics. congregation took root withoutmuch fuss about the house and its earlier ritual associations (seeJorgensen n.d.). Despite this, however, the collapse of the houseoccasioned some discomfort. Traditional practice demanded that the housebe immediately rebuilt, lest the fortunes of Telefolmin and the fate oftaro gardens throughout the region suffer, and some wished to rebuild iton new terms See suggestions for new terms. . In 2001 one Telefolip man, Seton, tried to raise funds(US$20,000) from overseas donors in order to finance rebuilding thehouse as a Culture and Heritage Centre and hoped that it might attracttourists to the area. These efforts failed, and the house remained as apile of debris that was eventually covered with large plastic tarps toprotect it from the elements. By 2002 the regional context--and the place of Telefolip withinit--had changed. The mining economy had undergone contradictory shiftson several fronts. On the one hand, uncertainty began to surround the OkTedi mine as BHP (the majority shareholder) exited the scene in theaftermath of the environmental lawsuit brought against it in theAustralian courts (Ballard and Banks 1997, Kirsch kirsch?n.A colorless brandy made from the fermented juice of cherries.[French, short for German Kirschwasser; see kirschwasser. 2002). Althoughimmediate calls to shut down the mine were fended off, the project wasslated for termination by the end of the decade and worries about mineclosure began to assume greater immediacy as people began to wonder whatwould come next (see Jorgensen in press). On the other hand, there was aboom in mineral exploration throughout the region. Even as prospects forOk Tedi seemed to fade, new copper and gold deposits had been identifiedin the Frieda River area, which had been the focus of prolongedspeculation as the site of a new mining operation on the northernperiphery of Telefol territory (Jorgensen 1997). New gold deposits hadalso been identified at Urapmin to the west, though it was unclearwhether they would be developed. Oil and gas exploration also got underway, with some exploratory work in the Bimin area to the southeast.Finally, there was much excitement about talk of gas deposits atBiangavip in Western Province to the south (rumoured to be a potentialpower source for the Frieda River mine). Helicopters, both real andimagined, crisscrossed the area and were believed to be ferrying newteams of geologists to seek out further deposits. The term 'goldrush' entered the local lexicon as nuggets and gold dust were foundon the fringes of the Frieda area, with many garnering enough from theseefforts to establish new tradestores or launch portable sawmill sawmill,installation or facility in which cut logs are sawed into standard-sized boards and timbers. The saws used in such an installation are generally of three types: the circular saw, which consists of a disk with teeth around its edge; the band saw, which operations. During all of this local people began scouring theirsurroundings for gold closer to home. There was a minor gold rush in theFalamin area just to the east of Telefolip, said to have been presagedby the appearance of lights, or perhaps a new star, on the easternhorizon, and some managed to locate small amounts of alluvial gold inthe main Telefolmin valley itself. Not for the first time, the people ofTelefolip began to wonder how it was that mineral wealth seemed to befound on all sides--everywhere, that is, except at Telefolip, the centreof the Telefol world. These events coincided with national efforts to mount OperationJoshua. (16) Although it failed to receive the general public supportand participation of its precursor (Gibbs 2005), Operation Joshuanonetheless took to the field in several locations. (17) One of thesewas Telefolip. OPERATION JOSHUA COMES TO TELEFOLIP Just how Operation Joshua came to Telefolip remains something of amystery. As far as I was able to determine, there was no invitationextended from Telefolip for Operation Joshua to come. But come it did,in the form of the unannounced arrival of an American evangelist, GeorgeBranson and his friend Peter, who flew into the area from Mt. Hagen andmade a bee-line for Telefolip upon landing (incidentally bypassing thelocal Baptist church offices in the process). (18) Some idea of theunderlying rationale for Branson's visit may be gleaned, however,from a couple of different sources. One of these is a web page by adentist and former Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF MAFmacrophage activating factor. ) pilot who had beenbased in Telefolmin between 2001 and 2003. (19) According tohim,</p> <pre> Some believe that there is a "triangle ofsorcery sorcery:see incantation; magic; spell; witchcraft. SorcerySorrow (See GRIEF.)sorcerer’s apprenticefinds a spell that makes objects do the cleanup work. [Fr. " covering the land [PNG], with one of the apices beingat Telefomin. Folklore has it that the people of the area sprang froma particular tribe, and gave rise to other tribes of Papua NewGuinea. The belief is that if the triangle is broken, the power ofwitchcraft/sorcery over the land will also be broken. To this end,Christians launched Operation Joshua recently, to fight against these principalities. (Tan 2004) </pre> <p>Here we find many of the earmarksof spiritual warfare and the spiritual mapping that goes along with it:a sense of a spiritualized geographical space, complete withcartographic car��tog��ra��phy?n.The art or technique of making maps or charts.[French cartographie : carte, map (from Old French, from Latin charta, carta, paper made from papyrus imagery (a triangle with an apex at Telefomin) thatindicates the domain of territorial spirits (principalities). From thisperspective, making an assault at Telefolmin (indeed, at Telefolip) is astrategic move in a larger campaign against demonic powers. Although theauthor doesn't tell us the extent of the area within the triangleof 'witchcraft/sorcery,' all indications are that it isextensive. (20) One reading consistent with this is the allusion tobeliefs that people in the region 'sprang from a particulartribe'--almost certainly a knowing reference to Telefolip'srole in Min traditions of origin. These speculations are reinforced by another view from a sourcefurther afield. In reply to email correspondence from Barry Craigconcerning Operation Joshua, a missionary interlocutor in��ter��loc��u��tor?n.1. Someone who takes part in a conversation, often formally or officially.2. The performer in a minstrel show who is placed midway between the end men and engages in banter with them. says:</p><pre> I know a bit informally about "OperationJoshua" and had heard about the Telefomin haus tamberan [spirithouse]. I can understand where these people are coming from ... As Iunderstand it, "Operation Joshua" ... is a network ofpentecostal/charismatic Christians who believe that the problems ofPNG are related to a spiritual battle in the spiritual realm betweengood and evil forces and powers ... they have ambitions of activeinvolvement in many parts of the country, but they saw Telefomin asone of the key points of "attack" (Barry Craig, pers. comm.2002). (21) </pre> <p>The actions of the attack apparentlyincluded 'a whole month of praying and gospel rallies. Many wereconvicted, burned their pig tusks and magic bags or bilums (importanttalismans), and culminated in the burning down of the spirithouses' (Tan 2004). In fact, the claim that spirit houses were burned down is a bit ofan exaggeration, considering that the Telefolip was already in ruins andwas in any case the only remaining spirit house in Telefolmin. (22) Thepoint, however, is clear: the material remains of the house and itsrelics were destroyed and with them, one imagines, the powers OperationJoshua attributed to them. In these terms, the operation must indeed bereckoned a success. OPERATION JOSHUA IN ACTION (23) It's worth asking what kind of success Operation Joshua hadand just how it operated. One obvious puzzle is the fact that thevillagers of Telefolip, along with most other Telefolmin, were alreadycharismatic Christians long before Operation Joshua arrived. Churchattendance and participation in services regularly marked bydemonstrations of the gifts of the Spirit (shaking, speaking in tongues,and so on) are routine matters of contemporary Telefol life (cf. Robbins2001). Indeed, the suggestion that Telefolmin were not good Christianswould be grounds for affront--as was in fact the case when OperationJoshua swept onto the scene. Local pastors and church officials fromother villages professed consternation and a certain amount of anger,and Operation Joshua had the effect of setting many of the villagers ofTelefolip at odds with their co-religionists elsewhere. This is a pointto which I shall return below, but for now I would like to suggest thepossibility that the beliefs of Telefolip villagers may in fact havebeen secondary matters in the context of Operation Joshua's largeraims. At Telefolip Operation Joshua--known locally simply asOJ--displayed many of the tactics of power evangelism as one componentof spiritual warfare. Apart from the obvious planning (or'intelligence') that went into selecting Telefolip as astrategic target, Branson is said to have displayed a disconcerting dis��con��cert?tr.v. dis��con��cert��ed, dis��con��cert��ing, dis��con��certs1. To upset the self-possession of; ruffle. See Synonyms at embarrass.2. familiarity with the local scene that immediately took people aback. Hespecifically sought out Falamsep, an elderly resident of Telefolip whowas generally acknowledged as the caretaker for the relics housed there,and addressed him as kabeel, a Telefol kinship term. He apparently alsoknew of Afek and the fact that her bones had been sheltered in theTelefolip. He was, in short, well-informed and well prepared. (24) Branson told of his own life, including things he had done prior tohis baptism of the Spirit. He also offered a version of the ProsperityGospel, starting with the proposition that there are two kinds ofdevelopment--physical development and spiritual development. He went onto explain that the former depended upon the latter. If the people ofTelefolip wanted development, spiritual development had to come first,and he argued that development in Telefolip had been blocked bySatan's power operating through traditional spirits. This power hadfirst to be broken before other benefits could be realized. Such an appeal struck a nerve in Telefolip. The villagers'preoccupation with mineral wealth gave focus to a broader sense thatTelefolip had been eclipsed in the overall scheme of things. Not only aritual centre, Telefolip had also been important in precolonial pre��co��lo��ni��alor pre-co��lo��ni��al ?adj.Of, relating to, or being the period of time before colonization of a region or territory. systemsof long-distance trade. Lying at the terminus of the main trackconnecting the valleys of the Sepik headwaters to the Faiwol villagessouth of the ranges, it had been a central node in the trading networksthat fed shells and stone adzes into the regional system. (25) Thissystem waned in the colonial period Colonial Period may generally refer to any period in a country's history when it was subject to administration by a colonial power. Korea under Japanese rule Colonial America See alsoColonialism , and collapsed when the Ok Tedi minewent into operation. In more immediate terms, Telefolip had clearly notfared as well in the mining era as the other Telefol villages nearer thegovernment station. For reasons that are not entirely evident, fewerTelefolip men had established careers working at Ok Tedi than those fromother villages, and the contrast in wealth was clear to see. In thenearby village of Derolengam, for example, virtually all houses arecarpenter-built, with corrugated iron corrugated ironn.A structural sheet iron, usually galvanized, shaped in parallel furrows and ridges for rigidity.corrugated ironNoun roofs and glass windows. Thevillage itself boasts running water and electricity from a mini-hydrogenerator, is equipped with street lights, and has a new church,tradestores and a vernacular language school. Numbers of Derolengamvillagers enjoy a relatively opulent lifestyle that includesrefrigerators, washing machines, VCRs and back-up generators, and someadded flush toilets, lawnmowers and computers to the list of modernaccoutrements ac��cou��ter��mentor ac��cou��tre��ment ?n.1. An accessory item of equipment or dress. Often used in the plural.2. Military equipment other than uniforms and weapons. Often used in the plural.3. . By contrast, there are far fewer new-style houses inTelefolip, and many houses are still built largely of bush materials.Water has either to be hauled from streams or tapped from one of ahandful of tanks, and electronic gadgetry is confined to batteryoperated radios and cassette recorders. Added to this obvious disparityis a smoldering sense of grievance concerning the funds made availablethrough TDDA: though perceived to be the product of Telefolip'sspecial links to Ok Tedi, Telefolip itself has not realized any specialadvantage as a result. Telefolip was, in short, ready to hear the Prosperity Gospel. Norwas the notion of prosperity lacking for imagery, for Branson is said tohave claimed that 'he had access to a satellite that could pinpointsubterranean mineral wealth [which] indicated to him that gold anddiamonds were located beneath the haus tamberan [spirit house]'(Gardner pers. comm. 2002). (26) The diamonds and gold were waiting tobe claimed by OJ adherents if only the blocking effect Kamin's Blocking effect demonstrates that conditioning to a stimulus could be blocked if the stimulus were reinforced in compund with a previously conditioned stimulus. For example, an animal is exposed to conditioned stimulus A, which predicts the occurrence of a reinforcer. of malignspiritual influence could be cleared away. Here, as with pentecostalistmovements elsewhere, the way forward was to make a decisive break withthe past. During his first weeks in Telefolip Branson sustained coordinatedprayer over several days at a time, and those who prayed with him weretermed 'prayer warriors,' or a 'battle prayergroup,' a usage confirming that prayer was seen not merely as ameans of communicating with God, but as a form of direct action. (27)This prayer (spoken rather than silent) was largely focused on Falamsep,who knew the various names of the Telefolip spirits--in spiritualwarfare, as with exorcisms, names are essential ingredients. Falamsepwas encouraged to confess these names and give his assent to thedestruction of the house's relics. In the words of one of theparticipants, they 'pushed him and pushed him' with acombination of directed prayer, pressure and inducements. Taking a leaffrom the Deliverance Gospel, it was claimed that the spirits associatedwith the house were responsible for illnesses and deaths, hinting thatFalamsep was implicated. By way of inducement, Branson was said to havegiven him 'K350, a carton of tinned beef, five chickens and thepromise of a trip to America.' In time Falamsep grew weary: heprofessed a desire to change, at which point Branson clapped his handstogether, declared it a miracle, and they both fell to the ground in afaint. Power evangelism had claimed another victory. After some preliminary discussion about whether or not human boneswere to be destroyed (they were), Falamsep instructed a group of youngmen to burn the relics, along with the debris of the house. With the keyhurdle to spiritual development cleared, the pursuit of physicaldevelopment began and men started digging in search of diamonds andgold. What they found was rather different. Instead, they uprootedseveral lengths of the Taro Vine and found patches of soft discolouredearth. Although they found a stone marked with a red colour said to be'like surveyors' paint,' there was no sign of gold ordiamonds. With hopes for gold fading, attention focused on thediscoloured earth, which was said to be a sign of the presence of oil,and this was reinforced by Branson's companion, Peter, whoinspected the excavations. Said to be a geologist and oil companybusinessman, Peter's expertise was enhanced by the claim that hisfather owned oil wells in either Iraq or Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia(sä`dē ərā`bēə, sou`–, sô–), officially Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, kingdom (2005 est. pop. , and it was hopedthat he would be able to confirm the find. A powerful smell issued fromthe places that had been dug, accompanied by a mist or fog that came outof the ground. Described by one man as 'like sulfur,' this gaswas held to be similar to that issuing from a well known gas seep in aneighbouring valley, which Peter also inspected. Rather than the usualsort of natural gas, however, this smell was taken to be a potent'bomb gas'--'uranium gas.' This was believed to bedangerous, but at the same time was seen as an encouraging sign. These activities did not all go without a hitch. When the Taro Vinewas dug up, several women cried, fearing for their taro gardens. Moredramatically, Branson was confronted by Kambangsep, a forceful older manwho had been absent during the preceding weeks. He upbraided Branson fordestroying his ancestors. In his defense, Branson claimed that he hadnot done the actual burning or digging: the local people had done thisthemselves. Kambangsep would have none of this, and Branson tried toplacate him by offering him K300. Kambangsep's reply: 'Who areyou, to think you can buy me? You say there's a big possum possumor phalangerAny of several species (family Phalangeridae) of nocturnal, arboreal marsupials of Australia and New Guinea. They are 22–50 in. (55–125 cm) long, including the long prehensile tail, and have woolly fur. (kapul)down this hole. If so, then sing out for your dog to come and dig it outso that I can see it!' Branson replied that Kambangsep had laid aheavy burden upon him. (28) At the end of Branson and Peter's stay (variously said to bebetween three weeks and a month), Branson was given bottles with samplesof the Taro Vine and earth from Telefolip to be sent to America orIsrael for analysis. If, as people believed, there was uranium gas atTelefolip, it was felt that it could play an important role as a weaponin the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. In the meantime Adv. 1. in the meantime - during the intervening time; "meanwhile I will not think about the problem"; "meantime he was attentive to his other interests"; "in the meantime the police were notified"meantime, meanwhile , Peter was totravel to his home in Europe, where he was to look into the possibilityof establishing a well at the site, and people were told to expect himto return sometime in 2004. Before leaving, Branson is said to have toldpeople to expect a miracle within three weeks. AFTERMATH During Branson's sojourn two local men and a woman becameprominent in OJ and assumed leadership roles after his departure. One ofthese was Toltumnok, a former trade-store owner and son ofTelefolip's last major Taro ritual specialist, who retainedBranson's large tent for prayer meetings. Toltumnok leads regularmeetings, and has taken the precaution of erecting a fence across thepath to the old spirit house site in order to protect people from thedangers of the gas lurking there. One of the powers Toltumnok gained from the OJ experience was thatof discernment, often understood as the ability to identify satanicforces at work in the spiritual realm. In his case, this took the formof visions--'like watching television'--that revealed theidentity of sorcerers to him. Before long he began making accusationsagainst others, including a former Telefolip councillor who was a memberof the local SDA congregation, and against a former councillor fromDerolengam village. Tensions between OJ and others quickly rose,particularly after an angry confrontation at the offices of the MinBaptist Union when he heard that OJ had been branded as a cargo cult cargo cult,native religious movement found in Melanesia and New Guinea, holding that at the millennium the spirits of the dead will return and bring with them cargoes of modern goods for distribution among its adherents. The cult had its beginnings in the 19th cent. byarea Baptists. More broadly, Telefolmin from other villages were furious at thedestruction of the Telefolip relics, pointing out that Afek was theirancestress too and did not just belong to Telefolip. Many of the youngergeneration were particularly aggrieved, saying that OJ had destroyedtheir history and culture. With the relics gone, there was nothing leftof their traditions but 'mere stories' (stori nating) withoutthe traditional proofs or evidences (wisnes) that spoke for their truth,complaints that were echoed by Telefol pastors and teachers (seeJorgensen 1990a, Robbins 2004a:138). Yet others had more personalcomplaints, saying that the bones of their particular ancestors had beendestroyed without consultation, and many lamented that the bones weredestroyed rather than buried. Animosity was particularly fierce againstFalamsep for breaching the trust placed in him by allowing the bones tobe burned. Before long mutterings about payback were heard, and Falamsepwent into hiding, moving to a distant garden house. A second leader was Seton. Well educated by local standards, Setonhad worked at Ok Tedi and had traveled extensively, including trips toEurope and Jerusalem. The son of a man whom he describes as the'chief of Telefolip,' he was the same man who had earliertried to rebuild the house as a cultural centre (see above). His wife, awoman from one of the landowning groups at Ok Tedi, also played aleading role as an OJ prophet and made occasional pronouncements aboutwhat the future held. Unfazed un��fazed?adj.Not fazed or disturbed. by opposition to OJ from others, Setonpointed out that the destruction of the relics was harmless and that theprotection of the Holy Spirit stood firm: pigs did not die and tarogardens continued to prosper as before. Much less given to all nightprayer meetings than Toltumnok, Seton took on the task of trying torealize the promise of physical development at Telefolip. Undaunted thatthe three week period elapsed without signs of a miracle, he sent outword via Telefolmin living in Tabubil to try to get overseas geologiststo come to Telefolip, to acquire LANDSAT photographs of the area, and tosearch for instruments (such as 'gold detectors') to locatesubterranean minerals. He is reported to be in regular contact withBranson by telephone (via Tabubil), and is also said to have sent him asample of his own blood for DNA testing in Israel. Significantly, theresults are said to show that he is a direct descendant of the Biblicaltribe of Benjamin The Tribe of Benjamin (Hebrew: בִּנְיָמִין,Standard . Finally, and not least, he and Toltumnok are said tohave had papers signed and to have solicited several thousand Kina infunds, which were to be sent off to Branson in order to pave the way fora mining agreement at Telefolip. Reports are mixed about the upshot ofthese efforts, though many believe that there is a substantial amount ofmoney from America that has been deposited in a PNG bank account, meantfor the people of Telefolip in consideration of mineral prospectingrights in the village. This money has so far been unavailable, awaitingthe appearance of a person with signing authority to release the funds. CONCLUSION: WORLD-BREAKING AND WORLD-MAKING As Robbins (2004b) and others (e.g., Meyer 1998) have observed,pentecostalist Christianity is simultaneously engaged in world-breakingand world-making. By insisting that believers make a break with thepast, it promotes a form of cultural rupture that severs a range oflocal ties, reconfiguring local fields of relationships (e.g., Newland2004). This world-breaking operates in tandem Adv. 1. in tandem - one behind the other; "ride tandem on a bicycle built for two"; "riding horses down the path in tandem"tandem with processes ofworld-making that locate local congregations in a world-wide network ofbelievers through links (both imaginary and practical) that sketch out aglobal horizon of evangelism. We can shed some light on these processesby examining the way the relation between the global and the local isimagined from the perspectives of Third Wave evangelism and thevillagers of Telefolip. Third Wave theology's program is conceived as a global projectframed in a spiritual cartography cartography:see map. cartographyor mapmakingArt and science of representing a geographic area graphically, usually by means of a map or chart. Political, cultural, or other nongeographic features may be superimposed. that provides a way of organizing whatits proponents have termed long-reach evangelism. Spiritual mappingidentifies strategic targets in particular geographical areas, and it isclear that this was a crucial element in Branson's arrival on theTelefol scene. Affirming rather than denying the existence oftraditional spirits (see Robbins 2004b:124-129), we can say thatOJ's assault on the Telefolip was the compliment spiritual mappingpaid to its fading centrality. That this recognition was made in theservice of attacking the Telefolip does nothing to diminish thesignificance accorded to it. Eves (2000), Robbins (1998) and Stritecky (2001) have drawnattention to the role charismatic Christianity can play in redressing asense of marginality many Melanesians experience in the contemporaryworld, and comparative material from Africa suggests a similar role forpentecostalist movements there (e.g., Gifford 2004). What is distinctiveabout OJ in Telefolip is the extent to which Branson's long-rangeintervention seemed geared to these particular concerns, for what was atissue for him and for the villagers of Telefolip was the relationbetween a particular place and a vision of the world as a whole. Thisbecomes clearer if we return to consider some of the specifics of OJ inTelefolip. One of the things that is surprising about OJ is that it makeslittle sense in terms of conventional evangelistic concerns, since thevillagers were virtually all charismatic Christians to begin with. Whilethis clearly lowered the bar Branson had to clear--everybody knew aboutthe Holy Spirit anyway--it also helps explain why there was no attemptto establish a mission, and hardly anything in the way of trying toestablish a church organization. For Branson's part, this wasprobably immaterial in light of his preoccupation with tearing down thestronghold the spirit house and its relics represented--this was astrategic, rather than a ground level operation. It was the significanceof the place in the overall scheme of things that mattered, and I thinkthis was equally true for the Telefolip villagers as well. It is surely no accident that Branson's companion wasidentified as a geologist, or that OJ was perceived as beingsimultaneously about mining and Christianity. The conjuncture of thesetwo arenas clearly speaks to the issues that he attempted to addresswith the Prosperity Gospel, and no doubt contributed to the impact ofhis brand of power evangelism. But I think it is a mistake to construe construev. to determine the meaning of the words of a written document, statute or legal decision, based upon rules of legal interpretation as well as normal meanings. this merely as an appeal solely grounded in the desire for wealth, iffor no other reason than that mining and Christianity encompass the twoprincipal means by which local people have come to understand and assesstheir place in the world. The key issue was the relation betweenTelefolip--as the traditional orientation point of the Telefolcosmos--and the wider field defined by Christianity and the miningeconomy. Prosperity and its lack have a particularly acute relational chargefor the people of Telefolip, who are continually reminded of theaffluence of their upstart Derolengam neighbours, whose position in themining economy threatens to eclipse Telefolip's earlier prominence.This keenly felt sense of disparity was what allowed the team ofevangelist and geologist to be cast as Telefolip's unlikelyrescuers even as they mounted attacks on its spirit house, for theirefforts were seen as putting Telefolip simultaneously on not one, buttwo maps: the spiritual and the physical. Here it is interesting to have another look at the role that thesoil and blood samples play in establishing links between Telefolip andthe wider world. Understood on one level in terms of their key role inthe mining industry, the samples of soil (and of the Taro Vine) aremeant to provide the basis for launching a mine or well to exploit adangerous and valuable (if imaginary) commodity--uranium gas. As such,they are clearly intended to further the material development ofTelefolip. But beyond this, sending them to Israel signalsTelefolip's desire to act as ally and protagonist in a globalcampaign of spiritual warfare that also has significance in the localunderstanding of geopolitical ge��o��pol��i��tics?n. (used with a sing. verb)1. The study of the relationship among politics and geography, demography, and economics, especially with respect to the foreign policy of a nation.2. a. issues. It is, then, not only an attemptto jump-start local development, but also a bid to claim a significantrole in global affairs. Similarly, the claim that DNA analysis DNA analysisAny technique used to analyze genes and DNA. See Chromosome walking, DNA fingerprinting, Footprinting, In situ hybridization, Jeffries' probe, Jumping libraries, PCR, RFLP analysis, Southern blot hybridization. ofSeton's blood demonstrates his descent from the tribe of Benjaminprovides a parallel spiritual link to Israel and, by implication,provides Telefolip with a technically authenticated line of ancestryconnecting it to the biblical origins of the world (cf. Stritecky 2001).Both sets of samples, then, seek to affirm Telefolip's centralityby linking it to a sacred site of global Christianity. (29) For the people of Telefolip, the issue was phrased in terms ofwhether they are 'the head or the tail of the snake.' With thearrival of O J, the lingering question of Telefolip's place in theworld had the glimmerings of an answer, and I think this is the reasonwhy OJ succeeded there as well as it did. Both Branson and the people ofTelefolip agreed that it was a site set apart and different from therest. In a world in which locality sometimes becomes precarious (Cortenand Marshall-Fratani 2001:2-3), OJ became a means of forging a new senseof place--relocalized rather than delocalized--as the articulationbetween the local and the global (see Dirlik 1998). Having said this, I think it is also important to say that thisarticulation remains largely imaginary, and there is little likelihoodthat Telefolip's ambitions as a centre of mineral production willpan out. By 2004 OJ had already experienced a number of defections asincreasing skepticism about its promises grew. With the initial promiseof the Prosperity Gospel dimming, there is the likelihood of a greateremphasis on the Deliverance Gospel, a development seemingly present inOJ's penchant for leveling sorcery accusations against others. (30) From this perspective, then, OJ at Telefolip can only be regardedas a tentative and qualified success. For Branson and the Third Waveproject of warfare against territorial spirits one can say that theobjective has been achieved, but it is not so clear that the people ofTelefolip will have as sanguine a view. Put differently Adv. 1. put differently - otherwise stated; "in other words, we are broke"in other words , one can suggestthat OJ was ultimately more effective at world-breaking thanworld-making, though efforts towards the latter continue apace. In closing, I would like to suggest that an understanding of ThirdWave theology is crucial to grasping what is in play in OJ'sappearance at Telefolip, and that an analysis in purely local terms isinsufficient. This is so not simply because OJ's provenance liesbeyond the village, but because the details of OJ's underlyingvision--especially its imaginary geography--were central to its appealfor villagers whose abiding preoccupation was to understand their placein terms that transcended the local (cf. Englund 2003). Finally, I wouldsay that we as ethnographers should examine evangelical aims, methodsand doctrines more extensively than we are in the habit of doing. Payingattention Noun 1. paying attention - paying particular notice (as to children or helpless people); "his attentiveness to her wishes"; "he spends without heed to the consequences"attentiveness, heed, regard to Third Wave theology is as important in comprehending thedynamics of pentecostalist evangelism in Melanesia as elsewhere. As thecase of Telefolip shows, doing so might help us to understand how peoplecan see world-breaking as a means of world-making. REFERENCES APPADURAI, A. (ed.) 1986 The Social Life of Things: Commodities inCultural Perspective. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press (known colloquially as CUP) is a publisher given a Royal Charter by Henry VIII in 1534, and one of the two privileged presses (the other being Oxford University Press). . AUSTIN-BROOS, D. 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I am also grateful formany helpful comments and suggestions from Imke Jorgensen, Barry Craig,John Barker, Joel Robbins, Philip Gibbs, Richard Eves, Roger Lohmann,Andrew Walsh and Liz Bonshek. The Sandaun (West Sepik) ProvincialGovernment, Delun Dentavi of the Telefomin Local Level Government andJim Robins of Papua New Guinea's National Research Instituteassisted in administrative and other matters. The research for thisarticle was funded by the Social Science and Humanities Research Councilof Canada. An earlier version of this paper was presented at themeetings of the European Society for Oceanists in Marseilles, July 7,2005. (2.) There is, as many writers have noted, a problem about findinga term for the varieties of Christianity at issue here: many churcheswith no formal Pentecostal label nonetheless share key attributes withthose that do. I use the term pentecostalist (as opposed to Pentecostal)as an umbrella category for Pentecostal and charismatic churches (seeCasanova 2001:435). (3.) Many of these evangelists have founded corporate centres orministries: The Vineyard Movement (Himber), The Sentinel Group (Otis),Global Harvest Ministries Global Harvest Ministries is a parachurch organisation committed to helping Christians contribute to the spread of the Gospel and Church planting around the world.The World Prayer Center is an associate organisation that exists in the same building. and the World Prayer Center (Wagner), Youthwith a Mission [YWAM] (Dawson), and Benny Hinn Ministries (Hinn). Wagneris also associated with the United Prayer Track and the InternationalSpiritual Warfare Network (Wagner 1996:18-22). (4.) For a graphic example of spiritual mapping in the Indian cityof Chennai (Madras), see Last Days Harvest Ministries (1998). (5.) The 10/40 Window assumes even greater significance in somerenditions: 'George Otis, Jr., has concluded that two powerfuldemonic forces, with great biblical significance, stand at the epicenterof the uureached world-the prince of Persia This article is about the game. For the titular character, see Prince (Prince of Persia). For an overview of the series, see Prince of Persia (series).Prince of Persia (Iran) and the spirit ofBabylon (Iraq) ... Otis observes that this will occur in the region ofthe Garden of Eden Garden of Edenn.See Eden.Noun 1. Garden of Eden - a beautiful garden where Adam and Eve were placed at the Creation; when they disobeyed and ate the forbidden fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil they were , where the command to 'subdue the earth'was originally given' (Bush n.d.). (6.) See, for example, Otis' discussion (1998:183, 183n) inwhich the use of mass communications and new electronic media play animportant role in addition to traditional camps, workshops, crusades,revivals, etc. There is doubtless considerable slippage betweenself-representations of the Third Wave's global reach and thespecific organizational nexus through which it is actualized ac��tu��al��ize?v. ac��tu��al��ized, ac��tu��al��iz��ing, ac��tu��al��iz��esv.tr.1. To realize in action or make real: "More flexible life patterns could . . . . I realizethat we need to establish the particulars of what is, after all, adiffuse and polycentric polycentric/poly��cen��tric/ (-sen��trik) having many centers. network (see Corten and Marshall-Fratani 2001:2,6). My account of the Third Wave in PNG is meant as a partial remedy forthinness in the ethnographic record on this score. (7.) A striking fascination with cadastral ca��das��trealso ca��das��ter ?n.A public record, survey, or map of the value, extent, and ownership of land as a basis of taxation.[French, from Proven?al cadastro, from Italian properties is revealedin the use of spiritually-mapped 'prayer walks,' 'prayermarches,' 'prayer journeys' and 'prayerexpeditions' (Wagner 1996:27-8), the designation of'gatekeepers', circumambulation Circumambulation (also known as pradakshina) is the act of moving around a sacred object.[1]Circumambulation of temples or deity images is an integral part of Hindu ritual.[2] It is also practiced in Buddhism. of settlements, and'cardinal points prayer' which placed teams of'experienced intercessors at the furthest geographical north,south, east, and west locations on all continents on the same day'(Wagner 2000; see also 1996:31). Operation Ice Castle of 1997 was alsostaged at Mount Everest, where it is claimed that a prayer teamundertook 'the highest level prophetic prayer initiative todate' (Wagner 2000; see also DeBernardi 1999). (8.) For a general account of Christianity in PNG and elsewhere inthe Pacific, see Barker (1990a). Note that Hovey's second wavecoincides with a strong upsurge of revivalism revivalismReawakening of Christian values and commitment. The spiritual fervour of revival-style preaching, typically performed by itinerant, charismatic preachers before large gatherings, is thought to have a restorative effect on those who have been led away from the in many parts of PNG (see,among others, Barr 1983, Eves 2004, Flannery 1983, Jorgensen 1981, Robin1982). For a parallel African example, see Mayrargue (2001:91f). (9.) This aspect of spiritual warfare is sometimes referred to as'territorial claiming.' (10.) In the account that follows I use pseudonyms throughout. Theevents described, and the roles of specific individuals within them, arestill hotly contested. (11.) There are no roads into the Telefomin District, and the onlyoutside access is via light aircraft or on foot. Note that Telefomin,rather than Telefolmin, is the official designation for the district andits government station. I use Telefomin when referring to governmentusage or when quoting others who follow it. In all other cases I useTelefolmin, a spelling that preserves vernacular links between theethnic designation and place names (e.g., Telefolip) or modifiers(Telefol). (12.) This was the fifteenth such house to occupy the site (seeSwadling et al. 1990). Interestingly, nobody I spoke with suggested thatthis collapse was related to the Last Days expectations that pervadedmuch of PNG in anticipation of the year 2000 (see Kocher Schmid 1999,Stewart and Strathern 2000). (13.) That is, with the exception of those whose bones--and hencespirits--were brought back to assist the living after being installed invillage spirit houses. (14.) Telefolip is also held by many to be the point of dispersalfrom which Min people migrated to their present locations in WesternProvince (Barth 1971). (15.) The cross was identified with a mythologically significantyet tree standing nearby, and this was given as part of a folk etymologylinking a secret name of the village site--Yesubip--to Jesus (Jorgensen2001). This tree died during the El Nino drought of 1997-98 and was cutdown by Toltumnok, one of the two local leaders of Operation Joshuadescribed below. (16.) As with Operation Brukim Skru, the timing of Operation Joshuacoincided with the run-up to national parliamentary elections. (17.) Liz Bonshek (pers. comm. 2004), for example, reports thatOperation Joshua was active in the Collingwood Bay area under theauspices of the Christian Revival Crusade. Activities included prayercamps, which included the showing of videos and battle training forspiritual warfare. From her description it seems probable that one ofthe videos was Transformations, produced by Otis' Sentinel Group.Operation Joshua was also apparently active in Alotau around the sametime. (18.) I was unable to contact the evangelists involved and socannot offer their version of events. This should be borne in mind inwhat follows. (19.) Nobody that I spoke to suggested that Dr. Tan was involved inOperation Joshua; I only became aware of his web page after returningfrom the area in 2004. (20.) It is not entirely clear what is intended by phrases likewitchcraft and sorcery in expatriate evangelistic parlance. My owninformal experience is that these words are often used to glosssomething like demonic practices or beliefs, a rough equivalent ofpopular North American North Americannamed after North America.North American blastomycosissee North American blastomycosis.North American cattle ticksee boophilusannulatus. notions of superstition or magic, but with theproviso (in Third Wave practice, at any rate) that there is noinsistence that wholly imaginary agencies are involved. This issupported by Newland's account of pentecostalism in Fiji, whichsuggests that the word witchcraft is often used as a generic epithet ep��i��thet?n.1. a. A term used to characterize a person or thing, such as rosy-fingered in rosy-fingered dawn or the Great in Catherine the Great.b. todemonise Verb 1. demonise - make into a demon; "Power had demonized him"demonizealter, change, modify - cause to change; make different; cause a transformation; "The advent of the automobile may have altered the growth pattern of the city"; "The discussion has traditional practices and beliefs (2004:10-11). These pointsare germane in the present context because they raise the question ofthe meaning and saliency sa��li��ence? also sa��li��en��cyn. pl. sa��li��en��ces also sa��li��en��cies1. The quality or condition of being salient.2. A pronounced feature or part; a highlight.Noun 1. of witchcraft (or sorcery) in the perspectivesof various participants in Operation Joshua. While Tan makes explicituse of this turn of phrase, none of my Telefol interlocutors broughtthis up when discussing Operation Joshua's initial phases, althoughvery definite themes of sorcery and witchcraft (as locally andanthropologically understood) became prominent in later phases of themovement. While it is not possible to rule out a concern with sorceryand its eradication in Operation Joshua's program, localrecollections suggest that any such preoccupations were overshadowed bybroader concerns with physical and spiritual development. See thediscussion of Branson's program and note 30 below. (21.) Don Gardner, who visited Telefolmin briefly in the aftermathof Operation Joshua, was able to identify Branson as operating from abase at the National Prayer Centre in Mt. Hagen. He was told by MAFcontacts that Branson was connected with George Otis' US-basedSentinel Group's 'Transformations program, a world-wideevangelical movement' (pers. comm. 2002; see Otis 1998 and SentinelGroup 2005). (22.) Operation Joshua, as led by this particular contingent, didapparently bum down a spirit house in the village of Imigabip among theFaiwolmin of adjacent portions of Western Province (Steven Frost, pets.comm. 2002). The other Telefol spirit houses that once characterizedeach village were either destroyed or converted to churches during theRebaibal of the late 1970s (Jorgensen 1981), although a few remainedintact among the neighbouring Falamin (Barry Craig, pers. comm. 2005). (23.) In what follows I am obliged to rely on the accounts ofvarious individuals. Not all of these are mutually consistent, but Ihave tried to sift through them to establish common ground. (24.) These things suggest that someone from the area had preparedhim, although it remains unclear who that might have been. It could havebeen a villager, but it is also possible the information was provided byMAF staff or by an American tourist (not Steven Frost) who had earlierpassed through the area. (25.) The key southern village in this system was Imigabip, whichalso served as a ritual centre for the Faiwolmin (see note 21 above). (26.) This statement was based on a conversation Don Gardner (pers.comm. 2002) had with a Telefol mining engineer. I was told similarthings in 2004 by both adherents and opponents of OJ. (27.) At least one local pastor immediately associated thisapproach with Operation Brukim Skru, which he had seen in action in1997. (28.) This is metaphorical talk: Kambangsep challenged Branson tobring a geologist or mining company to locate and produce the supposedmineral riches beneath the Telefolip site. (29.) A good case can be made for the samples serving as surrogatesfor relics--now destroyed--that once were the fixed patrimony PATRIMONY. Patrimony is sometimes understood to mean all kinds of property but its more limited signification, includes only such estate, as has descended in the same family and in a still more confined sense, it is only that which has descended or been devised in a direct line from the ofTelefolip. In each case the truth of a narrative (or claim) isauthenticated by material evidence (cf. the notion of wisnes, above).Although space doesn't permit me to develop these points here,there is additional mythological support for this view. The imaginaryalliance with Israel resonates with what Gifford (2001:74-79) has termed"Christian Zionism." (30.) It is ironic that an action aimed, at least in part, at theeradication of sorcery may have had the effect of giving it a largerprominence in local life than it had before OJ's intervention (seeMeyer 2000, Newland 2004). Gifford has suggested that the turn to'deliverance' may also be part of a general pattern ofresponse to the failure of the Prosperity Gospel to make good on itspromises (2001:73; 2004:86ff; cf. Meyer 2001:128). I am indebted to JoelRobbins for bringing this to my attention. For another view of the nexusbetween local Christianity and sorcery beliefs in Papua New Guinea, seeBarker (1990b, 2003). Dan Jorgensen University of Western Ontario Western is one of Canada's leading universities, ranked #1 in the Globe and Mail University Report Card 2005 for overall quality of education.[2] It ranked #3 among medical-doctoral level universities according to Maclean's Magazine 2005 University Rankings.